Silent Wars, Crooked Fences
by KyokoDreamer
Summary: "If countries fought one another over every little thing that bothered them, there'd have been more than two world wars. In order to prevent a third, we have... Silent Wars. And as a Hero City, you will represent Russia... (...) New York, London, Lyon, Shanghai and now Murmansk. It would be interesting and probably brutal, but maybe, just maybe, she was ready."


**Hey again guys! Anybody who was waiting for Peter may be slightly disappointed to see me upload something that isn't this, and to be honest I am too. :( I've been really busy lately because we're doing some renovation work on my house but I've got a bit more time now and Peter is at the top of my to-do list! I've written many of the later chapters, just not the more recent, so future updates will be quicker, I promise!**

**As for this story, it's a bit different to my usual work, and it's my first co-written piece! Ta-dah! This whole story is my RP session with my new friend little-miss-button-eyes, and I expect you'll be seeing a lot more of this in the future! When the text is normal, it is something she has written, the parts in Italics are my responses! ^^ I hope you guys like it, please read and review if you have the time! ^^ **

**Love Lucy xx**

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Silent Wars, Crooked Fences

The date was May 6th 1985, and Nonna Engylachev, or more commonly known as the Russian city of Murmansk, kept her hands tightly closed around the medal she'd received a few hours ago. It was dark now, and had come outside, waiting for Russia himself as he had informed her, in writing, that he wanted to see her.

During the last few years of World War II, she had been a direct link to the Western world for Russia. Supplying him with weapons, primarily manufactured goods and raw materials into the Soviet Union, and just that afternoon she had been formally designated as a 'Hero City', of which she was very proud, she hoped that Russia would be too.  
Murmansk had never seen him up close, so it was safe to say she was a little nervous, she didn't know what to expect of him. She hoped he wouldn't be condescending towards her, as she had heard some of the other countries could be to their towns and cities.  
So she waited, keeping an eye out for the first signs of her country approaching.

_He approached steadily and calmly, and his presence was a bulk on the horizon. He was tall and stood perfectly upright, befitting of a noble. "Murmansk?" he proposed._

The small city turned her head, sweeping some of her hair out of her eyes as the wind blew it to the side.

"Mister Russia? Privet." She replied, allowing herself a gentle smile at the sight of her country.

_He nodded his head to her politely and smiled. His smile was said to be unusual in that it bore warmth and yet hostility but he smiled anyway, purely because it masked everything else he might have been feeling. "I trust you got your medal, da?"_

Murmansk was no fool, she could perfectly see the very slight hostility in the huge man's face, but she decided to look over it for the time being, instead. She gave a sharp nod, uncovering the gold disk in her palm and holding it up to him, having to stand on her tiptoes a little, she was tiny compared to him.

_"Good. Congratulations." He smiled again, amused at her rather diminutive form in comparison to his own formidable height. "You're probably wondering what exactly you are doing here, da?"_

She withdrew her hand, slipping her precious medal into her coat pocket as she nodded again, shivering a little as the cold wind blew in her direction.

"Yes, sir I am a little confused.. You only said in your letter that you wanted to meet me.. You didn't give a reason.."

_"Hero City is a big title, isn't it? Strange for someone so little." He smiled again, that slightly frightening grimace. "It's a job far bigger than you could imagine. But it's yours now. So it's time to start."_

"Time to start… da..." She acknowledged, nodding again, her curly hair bouncing slightly as she did.

"The job isn't so big for me, sir… I imagine it would be if I hadn't been in the war for years. It's quite a tame job compared to my services in the war."

_"Hmm." His voice had a hint of knowing in it, and sadness. He clearly knew something she didn't. "Tame."_

She picked up the hint straight away, and she gave the larger man a very curious look, her face a little paler than before, but not scared.

"Is something the matter, Mister Russia, sir?" She asked softly, clasping her gloved hands neatly in front of her.

_"I chose you knowing your work..." he muttered, "I didn't think you'd be so little. New York, London, Shanghai, Lyon... Murmansk." He shook his head dazedly._

A slight twinge of annoyance flashed through the small city's face at that.

"Sir… Just because of my size does not necessarily mean I lack power. You do know that, don't you?" She straightened herself up a little more, wishing, in spite of her proud manner, that she was a little taller.

_This seemed to give him comfort somewhat but he still appeared nervous. "The others are still bigger. New York is supposed to be very strong so maybe you'll be alright..." He trailed off again and wasn't making any sense._

At that, Murmansk's eyes narrowed, giving him a slightly fearful look this time.

"You speak of this as if I'm facing some kind of competition, sir…" She said quietly, hoping against hope that that wasn't what he had asked her here for.

_"More like a... War." His eyes glazed over as if recounting something terrible, but then he looked back at her unchanged. "A silent war." He laughed sadly, "If countries fought one another over every little thing that bothered them, there'd have been more than two world wars. In order to prevent a third, we have... Silent Wars. And as a Hero City, you will represent Russia..."_

Murmansk felt her jaw drop, and she made no attempt to close it again, regardless of how stupid she must look, she made a faint gurgling sound, thinking over what her country had just told her, then she closed her mouth again, shaking her head and staring at him.

"You... I... I'm... not doing this, sir..!"

_He just looked at her and then opened her closed fist with his fingers, exposing the gleam of the medal. He pointed at the engraving: "Hero," he spoke aloud, "You prevent death. You prevent wars. You prevent the collapse of empires. But hero means sacrifice and I can't guarantee you won't get hurt..." He looked at her again, "You are small. I knew it should have been Minsk but would anyone listen to me?" He sighed, "But the four of them can't go by themselves... Maybe Minsk would be a better choice..."_

She pulled her hand back a little violently, looking properly scared now.

"Da, please, Minsk! I am not going into another war this fast. Not so soon after the other one, please…!" She took a deep breath, realising that she had said too much.

"I mean… I... know that I should... try... But, sir, please think about this... I'll be flattened...!"

_He placed a hand on her shoulder, a half-hearted attempt at comforting the young girl. "I know. But I have faith in you, Murmansk. I believe that you can do this." He thought a bit, then began to give more explanation. "New York... He is strong and powerful, but not very bright. He tends to be very headstrong but too... Altruistic. Especially when it comes to London. Desperate to protect him. London is cleverer, more tactical but not as brave. Lyon is tall and she's kind, but can fight as well as any. Shanghai is well-versed in martial arts... He knows what he is doing with a gun too. But... Don't fall for him. You'll die." He turned away from her. "The Big Five... Missing one."_

She took a very shaky breath, something akin to an actual war going on in her head, there seemed to be two parts of her that were completely opposite, one side was telling her to get away from her country as quickly as possible before he started handing her another military uniforms or something. The other side was very firmly informing her that, as part of Russia, she was almost required to do this on his behalf.

"Sir… Can you assure me that... No harm will come to me...? Like you said I am... Very small, I do have lots of skill when it comes to battle and… I would fight, of course I would but. Because of my size, nations and places like New York tend to think they can defeat me easily and… Sometimes they do."

_He spun around on his heel, not expecting her to even consider the arrangement. He pondered her question. "No." He paused, "I cannot assure you that no harm will come to you. But I can assure you that you will not die, and that with everything you do... You're saving the world. And our people." He stared at her intensely, meaning every word he said, and praying that she would agree. Together, the five cities could be unstoppable. Together, they really could prevent World War Three. "So...?" he asked._

The small city bowed her head a little, finding that she couldn't look Russia in the eye, and when she did speak, she spoke them into the ground so as not to look up again.

"I don't want another war like World War II... If this really will stop another one then. Da. Da, I'll do it okay...?"

_He smiled genuinely this time and enveloped her in a huge hug, taking her by surprise. "спасибо" (Thank you") He hoped that she would be alright because he knew just how big a task the five would be expected to perform. An all out war, hidden away from the rest of the world. A silent war... New York, London, Lyon, Shanghai and now Murmansk. It would be interesting and probably brutal, but feeling her tense up he thought that maybe, just maybe, she was ready._


End file.
